Saturday, December 21, 2013

Joined Hip Hoppers withStreet Cred for Opening Day ofDover Street Market
Today was the opening day of Rei Kawakubo's New York Dover Street Market, her new 7-floor emporium in a Beaux-Arts building on the corner of Lexington and 30th Street. This area (called Kips Bay) is a fashion desert and just the place for an avant-gardist like Rei to decamp with the trendiest of the trendy in the midst of a middle-class morass of drug stores, delis and pizza joints. Let's see who follows in this colonization effort.

Rei Kawakubo is the Comme des Garçons (Like some Boys) designer.

Tear sheets from The New York Times

T magazine with Rei's sketch

for the Dover Street Market.

Upon approaching the DSM I spied a lineup of hip hoppers and said, (to myself -- because I was alone) "Oh OH. Not exactly my demographic. What am I getting myself into?" But I got on line, and when the clock struck 11, I was very nicely invited in with the well-dressed group, while the hip hoppers hopped on one foot and waited excitedly to be let in so they could buy a NIKE Supreme shirt for, what no doubt, would be an outlandish sum.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Natalie Frigo:My Neighbor andJeweler Extraordinaire
The co-op where I live, Seward Park, is a beehive of creative activity. Living here, we have designers, artists, curators, photographers, architects, actors and we have Natalie Frigo, a wonderful jeweler.
Natalie lives in the next-door apartment to ours, and I can peer out my living room window and see a slice of her studio, and usually, reclining in the sun, Pork Chop, one of her three cats. Sometimes one of the other two cats, Evel Knievel or Vito, is in the coveted window spot, and I wave. Who would be dumb enough to wave at a cat, I ask you?

Anyway, Natalie has her work bench on the other side of my studio wall, and I can hear the scratchy sound of her tools as she works. A few minutes ago, I even heard her sneeze. It's not bothersome, mind you. In fact, it's nice to realize that as you labor, another creative spirit is a few feet await, albeit, behind a thick, concrete wall.

This past Saturday, I stopped by Natalie's pop-up shop on East 4th Street in the East Village. It was a freezing cold day, but my spirits brightened upon entering the shop to see her unique and artful pieces.

Natalie Frigo at work in her studio.

Natalie sculpts her pieces by hand. She uses the

ancient practices of metalsmithing and "cire perdue"

or lost-wax casting.

Inspiration comes from early metallurgy, textiles, nature,

and architectural forms.

Natalie Frigo in her pop-up shop.

On the left, Long Dagger and Lucite.

Natalie uses only recycled metals and conflict-free stones. For example,

Des Autres

ABOUT ME

I'm an artist and milliner living in New York City. I study French, travel and adore la mode. I like to toss bons mots, maintain my credentials as a culture vulture and make ironic comments.
Photo by Ari Seth Cohen of Advanced Style.